Home
by VampireVampyre
Summary: That's a pretty basic concept right? Nadia Latino is a news anchor for Abstergo Entertainment but one day things change. Now it seems her lucky break isn't so lucky at all and she now has to find out the truth for herself. Home may be further away than she thought.
1. Chapter 1

Home

_Chapter 1: The Sister Company_

"This is Just In, that's all for now."

As soon as the camera was turned off, Nadia's sweet smile drained from her face and was replaced by her usual tired look.

Being an anchor and a lead journalist meant her workload was not light and she felt like she had not slept in months. She was in charge of celebrity news which meant there was always a constant flow of it heading her way. Early nights were only a dream for her. Her office replaced her bedroom and most nights her clock read 2am before she finally finished up and left the office building for the night.

"Hey, you okay?" a voice asked her as she ran a hand from her previously perfect hair. It was Declan, her fellow host and friend.

He had been there on her first day and they became friends almost immediately which helped both on and off camera. Many viewers speculated that they were in a relationship together but they weren't. Declan had a girlfriend who was currently pregnant and who he wanted to marry. Nadia was alone but content with that – not that she had had that much time to think about that.

"What? Yeah, no I'm fine," Nadia said with a weak smile as she smoothed her slightly creased blazer. "Just the workload getting me stressed as ever."

"Tell me about it! I have to go to a film premiere in LA which means I leave Millie for a week. Andrew knows she's pregnant but he still sends me across the country!" he said and anyone could tell he was really annoyed about this.

"Hey easy, we all know Andrew is a dick. I'm sure she'll understand that it's not your fault. She has your family and hers to look after her too. She'll be fine." Nadia said, trying to stop him stressing too much.

Andrew was their producer and their boss, he was a grade A jerk and liked everyone to know it. He was the kind of person you instantly want to punch in the face but unfortunately for Nadia she couldn't otherwise it was bye-bye dream job.

"Ah Miss Latin, a word please." The man in question said from just behind her. Nadia spun to face him and really hoped he hadn't heard that – he was always out looking to fire one of his employees.

The one thing that annoyed Nadia about the way he addressed her was the way he pronounced her last name. It was Latino but he deliberately called it Latin since he first met her and there was a typo on her profile sheet. He saw it annoyed her so he always did it, that's why he always called her 'Miss Latin' rather than her first name like he did everyone else.

"See ya later Nadia." Declan called as Andrew lead her away from the studio and out into the empty adjoining corridor.

"What's up Andrew?" Nadia asked with polite friendliness as they walked along, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had formed.

"You're needed, apparently you need to explain to some of the scientist from the sister company what we do here." He said though he sounded like he wasn't particularly interested but also didn't like the situation.

Nadia hadn't met anyone from the sister company before but Andrew obviously hated them a little more than he did his own crew considering how he sounded like he didn't want her to do this.

"The sister company? Don't they deal with drugs and medicine and science? Why do they want me, why not speak to our science guy Dom?"

"They requested to see you." Andrew said, already sounding bored of the conversation. Nadia just ignored his tone, she had more questions she wanted to ask. In all of the time she had been at Abstergo Entertainment she had never once heard of the sister company visiting. Not once, so why now?

"Why are they here?"

"Because they have are doing an interview with Dom later about some ridiculous, pointless, money wasting experiment that they want to share with the world." Nadia definitely thought Andrew hated them and she was getting more evidence by the minute. Usually, he would call something, or someone, just one negative adjective but today he had gone the whole hog and called their project 3! It was some kind of personal record Nadia thought she should note.

"Okay sorry for asking." Nadia muttered and Andrew gave her a glare like he almost always did.

"You're in the room straight ahead, I would stay and play twenty questions with you but I don't have the time and I don't really care about you. Try not to let your New York accent spoil the interview too much." Andrew said, signing off with sarcasm and an insult as usual before he turned and walked back the way they came – which Nadia noticed was actually quite far away from where they started.

Nadia had a fairly strong accent since her mama and papa were first generation Italians and she had been brought up in Little Italy with them. Over the years though she had toned it down enough for people not familiar with the accent to be able to understand her while still retaining enough of her accent for her to feel like herself.

Nadia paused outside the wooden door for a moment to practice her 'I'm-totally-not-tired-or-over-worked' smile that she usually reserved for the camera. Once she thought she was ready she knocked on the door and entered when a friendly male voice told her she could come in.

**{This is an idea I had a little while ago, I've got the whole plot and everything planned out but haven't wrote anything but this at the moment. I wasn't going to publish it yet but I want to see what readers think of it so far. Also I haven't really published much lately so this is here to make up for that.}**


	2. Chapter 2

Home Chapter 2

_Chapter 2: Science's Surprise_

As she walked in, she saw a tableful of men in white lab coats looking at her, all with warm smiles or amused looks on their faces – as if her presence was part of a joke she had missed the beginning of.

Except one.

No, the man two seats down from her on the left of the long, rectangular table looked the very opposite. Nadia could see a light sheen of sweat covering his face and even as she looked at him he refused to meet her gaze, his gaze shifting to look at a very dull painting hung on the wall. He was nervous of her but she had no idea why.

"Ah Miss Latino, it's so nice to meet you," said the calm voice from before though the owner stayed seated and made no move to shake her hand or give and physical greeting. "Please, have a seat. I am Warren Vidic, and these are some of my colleagues."

Nadia smiled at them all before moving over to the only vacant seat.

As she did though, she could feel seven pairs of eyes all watching her. She looked around at them and her eyes came to rest at the calm figure at the head, the only speaker as of yet, who was watching her amused as he calmly clasped his hands together and leaned back in his chair. It unnerved her but she didn't know why.

"Do you know much about what we do at Abstergo Pharmaceuticals, Miss Latino?" Warren asked her with his usual calmness, not moving from his previous position.

"A little," she said, trying to make her accent as subtle as she spoke. "I know you create drugs, both household and medicinal."

Her limited knowledge created a surge of whispers between the scientists as well as a few more amused smiles. Although she realised that that could be amusing, she was still bothered by how the scientists looked at her when she first entered the room.

She looked over at the flustered man again and this time he had seemed to become even more agitated for reasons still unknown to her. This bothered her a lot but she kept the thoughts to herself for her job's sake. The last thing she needed was Andrew on her case.

_Is there something they know that I don't? Or do they just like making jokes about us in general? Maybe that's why Andrew doesn't like them..._

"That is partly what we do, though it is by far the least exciting. No, Miss Latino-"

"Please, call me Nadia." She said with a warm smile, trying to make herself less nervous by stopping formality.

"No, Nadia," Warren said, slightly patronising with a small amused smile of his own. "our main focus now is researching memories and the inner most workings of the human mind." There was a momentary pause before he continued. "Our most prided experiment is the Animus Project."

"Animus Project?" Nadia vaguely recognised the name but she had no idea what it involved.

"Ah I'll let James explain that." Warren said, gesturing to the red-headed young scientist on Nadia's left.

Just in front of flustered man who was now running a hand though his greying hair.

"The Animus project is one of our greatest project yet," the man said with an excited tone as he pushed his thin wiry glasses further up his nose. "one we're about to share with the world. You know what memories are right?"

"Well yeah, their events, people and experiences that you've remembered and your brain is able to recollect." Nadia said, leaning forward slightly as the subject became interesting.

"Well, we've been able to find and extract memories from your ancestors. It's not just your memories stored in your mind, your ancestral line is stored there too. All in your DNA. We created a machine that enables you to relive those locked up memories and experience your ancestors lives. We've had subjects relive memories from as far back as the Egyptian times as of yet."

As James finished explaining, Nadia's mind was alight with thoughts and images of what that would be like – to live the lives of those who came before you from so far back in time. She even imagined herself in so many ancient places and cultures and what it would be like to be able to experience it all as if it was real life.

"We've even developed this idea into a games console too so people all over the world can share in this fantastic experience."

That's where she'd heard it.

Dom, the science and technology reporter, had once come back from a business trip to Rome and had been all excited for the console which 'could completely change the world of gaming forever'. Nadia had just thought he was being his usual overexcited and incredibly passionate self about his subject, but now she understood his excitement. This was a large step forward from everything else ever invented in the gaming world – or so she knew.

"That sounds so... amazing," She said, sharing her intrigue and fascination with the idea. "I'm sure it will be a huge success."

"Yes it would, but still it would be dwarfed in success if Project Gemini had gone as planned." The flustered man piped up, much to everyone's surprise.

Silence fell across the room as the man's words were absorbed by the group of scientists. Now it was the others' turn to look flustered.

_Project Gemini? _

"I don't understand, what is-" Nadia started to ask but was interrupted as the man now looked at her.

"Craig-" Warren started but the main, Craig, cut him off.

"You're accent, Nadia, you're Italian-American aren't you?"

"Excuse me?" Nadia said, eyebrows raising towards her hairline. She had no idea why he would ask such a question now, right in the middle of all of the awkwardness. And a weird question too.

_What does that have to do with anything?_

"You're Italian-American aren't you? Parents first generation Italian?" he repeated, looking at her now with desperation – which freaked Nadia out even more. Along with the fact that he correctly guessed (or knew?) her parents were Italian.

"Uh yeah..." She said slowly and unsurely, still both curious and cautious about this and what it had to do with anything.

"Craig, enough. You are stressing this young woman with your ridiculous questions. Just calm down and-"

"No!" he roared at them, standing up from his chair and slamming his hands down on the table. As he looked back at her, his eyes developed a slightly mad edge which scared Nadia but she couldn't look away as they held her gaze. "No!"

"I'm sorry Miss Latino," the middle-aged man sitting to her left said, looking at her and taking her arm as he stood her up and lead her to the door. "Dr Ashford is having... problems at the moment. We thought he'd be okay but apparently not."

They both looked at the hollering man who was now being restrained by two of his colleagues who were trying to calm him down. All the while Warren looked on with a mixture of anger and disapproval.

"No, it's okay," She said, swallowing down any fear she had and looking at the scientist with a smile. "It was nice talking to you anyway. I guess I should know more about the sister company."

The man smiled at her as he opened the door.

"Don't listen to them, the lies, don't listen. Remember your brothers! Remember-"

That was all she got from Dr Craig Ashford before she was shoved out of the door and it closed in her face.

_Remember my brothers?_

That confused her. She didn't have any brothers – or any siblings at all for that matter. Her mama and papa had tried for another after she was born but her mother miscarried and so they decided not to risk it any further.

_What did he mean? Or was that all just crazy talk?_

Although logic immediately decided the man was probably spouting nonsense, Nadia decided she couldn't rule out the other, surprisingly weirder, reason until she knew more. She was a journalist after all and even she had to alter the truth, even though she didn't want to, she still wanted to know it for herself.

"Find out? Yeah right," she told herself aloud. "they were glad to get me outta there. I doubt they'll want me askin' about it anytime soon either."

"Hey Nadia," Declan called to her from a little way down the corridor. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his grey business suit as he waited for her to walk over to him. "How'd it go?"

"It was... something." Nadia managed, as she shook the questions out of her head for now.

"What happened?" Declan looked interested now.

"Well one of the scientists went a bit crazy." Nadia said, walking alongside him once Declan started moving again. "He asked me these weird things then started ranting and had to be restrained."

"What did he say?"

"He asked me if I was Italian-American then started saying weird things like 'Remember your brothers'." She explained while they stepped inside the empty elevator.

"But you don't have any brothers." Declan recalled and Nadia nodded in agreement.

"Exactly! I wanted to know more but another scientist politely shoved me out of the door and closed it in my face."

"Well that is definitely a meeting to remember."

"I doubt I'll forget it!" Nadia said as the elevator took them to the sixth floor where their offices were.

"Ah crap!" Both Nadia and Declan said as the elevator doors opened and they spied their piles of work through the glass walls of their offices.

Nadia was in charge of celebrity gossip. That included sightings, products, main events in their lives. It also meant she had to deal with a lot of paparazzi, which she wasn't exactly thrilled about, as well as going to a lot of interviews with many who just wanted to plug their product/book/other.

Declan was in charge of all things in the Hollywood and the movie industry so he was always off to premieres or interviewing stars on set while still having to be back for the evening news if not presenting live from a premiere.

Neither of them had quiet lives but the same could be said for those helping them with their jobs.

"Hey Nadia, how did it go?" Kirsty, her PA, asked as Nadia wedged open her office door so she could get some air in the small room as well as being able to talk to Kirsty and the others in her mini-department.

"A man went nuts but otherwise it went perfectly fine."

"What?" Selena asked, peeing over her computer to see Nadia clearly. Selena worked on the showbiz part of the Abstergo website and kept it completely up to date with the latest news pretty much all day.

"Tell us!" Kirsty said as she placed a hot cup of coffee beside Nadia on her desk as the woman sat down.

Nadia knew this wouldn't have blown over in her department, especially since it was one full of journalists who were dedicated to gossip.

"Well it started off normal then the guy spoke up, started asking about where I was from then went completely crazy and said stuff like 'Remember your brothers'."

There was a moment where Selena, Kirsty and a few others from both hers and the surrounding journalistic departments collectively gasped and looked at her in shock.

"But you don't have any brothers!" Selena said, repeating what Declan had said perfectly.

"I know!" Nadia said for the second time that day.

"That's so... weird," Kirsty said with a slight smile at her words. "what happened after that."

"Another guy practically shoved me out of the door and that was it. End of interview."

"I wonder what he meant..." Kate, from Declan's department, said as she stood at the photocopier next to Kirsty's desk.

"Guess we'll never know." Nadia said, finishing the discussion as she began to get back to work while taking a sip of her nice coffee. She had a feeling she'd be needing its energy; she could feel another late night ahead.

**...**

"Nadia, it's 10pm. You finishin' up now?" Declan asked, knocking on her glass door as he slung his grey suit jacket over his shoulder. He looked as tired as she felt but she made no move to stand up and join him, despite the empty desks outside her office.

"Nah, I'll stay a little longer. I haven't finished writing my stuff for tomorrow's show and that needs to be done. I've just been so busy with another celeb who's found out their fiancé is cheating on them."

"Ah, the usual." Declan joked as he leaned against the door. "Are you sure? You know, havin' all these late nights isn't gonna do your body clock any favours."

"Yeah I am, I just really need to get this done." Nadia said, turning her attention from her screen for a moment to flash a reassuring smile to her friend. He flashed one back and stopped leaning against the door frame as he turned to go.

"Good night Nadia, don't stay too late!"

"I won't." She said with a final smile before he left her alone in the office.

_If I wasn't used to this, I'd say it is pretty creepy to be here alone!_

A few minutes later she, weirdly, discovered she had a new e-mail.

"That's weird... I've never had one at this time before. Uh unless it's that Luca again from Italy demanding to know why I wasn't showing any of his pictures on TV, uh that guy is a total jackas – woah!"

Nadia had clicked on the e-mail, from an unknown source, and had found it contained a family photo of her and her parents when she was younger – and there were no rifts.

If that wasn't weird enough, her parents' heads were both covered in two large red crosses. Underneath a caption read:

_THE LIES HIDE IN EVERY CORNER, ONLY YOU CAN SEEK THE TRUTH._

Nadia's eyes scanned the screen again and again, her mind getting more disturbed the more she looked over the e-mail. Before she quickly shut down the computer and moved away from her desk, a sense of paranoia rushing over her.

_How the hell did they get hold of that picture? Why is it like this? Who sent it? What do they mean 'the lies hide in every corner'? Why me? Why?_

Not daring to look back at the machine, she grabbed her jacket and rushed out of the department.

**{What do you think? I know I have a lot of other stuff to write but my mind wanted to write this first.**

**Please review and I hope you enjoyed it!}**


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